By Craig Hlavaty |
July 11, 2013
| Updated: July 12, 2013 9:03am

The intent of the National Gay Blood Drive is to show the FDA how much blood the gay male community could contribute to the blood supply if the ban were lifted.

The event calls for eligible gay and bisexual men to show up to get tested at a specified donation center and attempt to donate blood. As each donor is rejected, their test result will be collected, compiled, and delivered to the FDA.

The FDA's policy is that men who have had sex with other men at any time since 1977, when the AIDS epidemic in the United States began, are currently deferred as blood donors. The FDA stated that this is because these men as a group are at increased risk for HIV, hepatitis B and certain other infections that can be transmitted through a blood transfusion.

Locals are directing their Houston-area supporters to the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center, but Meagan Raeke, spokesperson from the blood bank, says they are in fact not directly affiliated with or joining the nationwide event.

"The organizers did contact us ahead of time and we have worked with them to attempt to limit the event's impact on our daily operations," she says.

The FDA also says that current HIV tests are highly accurate, but they cannot detect HIV 100 percent of the time.

The current policy was updated in 1992, according to the FDA. They do leave the door open for change though, saying in their FAQ that would make adjustments with scientific data proving that it wouldn't cause significant and preventable risk to blood recipients.

KUHF pointed to a 2010 study from UCLA that showed it's possible that 90,000 pints of blood in the nation's supply every year could come from gay men if given the chance to donate.

In addition to Houston, there are plans for demonstrations in San Antonio, Dallas, and Austin.